To me, the only meaningful options are the first two. If you don’t vote, you have no voice, and what’s the point in that? Don’t you want your action to be counted in some way? If we really want to get Bernie in office (or keep Hillary out), it seems like we should be coordinated about this effort .. no?

It’s all a bit abstract to even discuss this right now since we have no idea what will happen as the convention draws near. I think we have to assume that Bernie will stick it out through all of the states, and there will be a contested convention since it’s unlikely that neither candidate will have the requisite number to win outright. Here are the scenarios that I’m seeing ..

DOOR #1: Bernie wins more delegates than Hillary! (Yes, it is still possible, although it’s getting harder all the time.) If that happens, we’ll have to believe that the superdelegates will go the way of the people (if they don’t, there will be riots and god help us all). Let’s just assume that if Bernie gets more delegates, he will be the nominee .. all’s well, on to the White House!

If Hillary is the nominee, Bernie will likely insist that she make concessions to his platform. We all know that she’ll say whatever she thinks we want to hear, but it’s hard to believe that she will be believable enough for Bernie to actually back her and ask us to do the same .. for the “good” of the party. So, we’ll need to choose from the following options ..

DOOR #2: Hillary is the nominee and Bernie doesn’t back her; he decides to run as an Independent. If that happens, he’ll be called a “spoiler.” I don’t think that matters to most of us, and I think that in a general election, he could very likely win a 3-way race, since he’ll have the backing of a large number of Independents who haven’t been counted yet.

However, this is a tricky path since it would require Bernie registering in all 50 states (or as many as possible), which entails getting many signatures (178,039 in CA alone, more than 880,000 in total). Also, the filing date in 14 states (Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and Washington) will have passed by the time the convention is over. He would need to switch to Independent by June 9 (Texas deadline) to be able to register in all states. [#1]

This means that Bernie would likely need to switch to Independent before the convention. Hmm.

DOOR #3: Hillary is the nominee and Bernie doesn’t back her; he decides NOT to run as an Independent. If he doesn’t officially run, writing him in, while it may feel good, may have no effect at all and in many cases no one will even know! Apparently some states disallow write-ins (Nevada, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and South Carolina), and most require the candidate to register in order for their write-in to be counted. Only 8 states allow write-ins without a filing (Oregon, Iowa, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Vermont). [#2]

It seems unlikely that Bernie would register as a write-in if he’s not going to run as an Independent (I suppose he might if the filing deadline is later, not sure about that). So, if Bernie doesn’t register as a write-in, don’t write him in! Your vote will likely not be counted or registered in any way. It would be as if you hadn’t voted at all.

If Bernie doesn’t register as a write-in, it seems that the best thing to do is vote for Jill Stein. This vote will get counted, and if enough #BernieOrBust people are on board, it’s possible that she could get elected (yes, very unlikely). At least, your vote would be counted and heard. In my mind, that would be far better than the other options available, at least the climate and environment would be a focus.

DOOR #4: Hillary is the nominee and Bernie does back her. This sounds crazy to me, but I suppose it’s possible. He’d have to make an awfully good case for supporting Hillary, and even then .. I don’t know, I can’t go there yet.

Some are concerned that a Bernie write-in or voting for Jill, is a “vote for Trump.” That may not be as bad as you might think. As this election has unfolded, I’ve become more and more anti-Hillary. The corruption and scandal that surrounds her have become unpalatable[#3]. Even though she claims to be a “Democrat,” I think that Trump could be less dangerous in many ways. Hillary’s roots (and core values) are conservative and Republican[#4]. Trump’s roots are Democratic (Republican: 1987–99; 2009–11; 2012–present. Independent: 2011–12. Democratic: before 1987; 2001–09. Reform: 1999–2001)[#5]. Granted, Trump would be a huge embarrassment for the country, but there’s no way that his crazy ideas would come to pass. On the other hand, Hillary is likely to get us into another war, and will continue with the corruption and greed that infests our so-called-democracy.

These are just some thoughts about how to proceed as a #BernieOrBust. If we can agree on a path of action, we might actually be able to affect the outcome of the election. What are your thoughts?

I think that need to explain about the comment made earlier by the Bernie2016. It is surprising that they make such comment knowing well that it is not correct pertaining as to how many states allow write-in candidates. The above information is not correct and it is misleading to those that visit this site. To be correct there are 43 states that allow the write-in candidate In the USA there are six (6) states that do not allow write- candidates the other 43 does. Every candidate has plans for their campaign is it just too early to for me to make a decision concerning this matter however, when the time comes we will do what we think is proper to do my comment is to get out and vote for the candidate of your choice. We need to start thinking that we all have a trace of being progressive, independent, liberal, green. We are not given the opportunity to be non-partisan we must go with the one with the largest popular vote or it will too late.

I think you’re misunderstanding my statement. Yes, most states DO ALLOW write-ins. However, it is my understanding (based on the referenced articles), that in order for that write-in to be counted, the candidate must have registered as a write-in before the election (8 states do not have this requirement, but the others do). Therefore, if Bernie does not register as a write-in in each state, any write-in votes for him will probably not be counted. If this is incorrect, please let me know.

My intent here is to point out that while writing Bernie in may feel good and may seem like it’s making a statement, it’s likely that no one but you will know. If a write-in vote in your state will not be counted, it may be better to make that statement by voting for Jill Stein (or other 3rd party candidate) so your vote will actually be counted.

Does just registering in a state but not running, require all those signatures? Can he register just to allow write ins just by paper work? His votes in each state should be signatures. There’s a legal argument. Worse comes to worse I vote Green and down ballot progressives

I believe that these rules are different for each state. My main point is to make sure that people are aware of the rules in their state so their vote (whatever it is) is actually counted and not just discarded. Would be great if there would be some organized effort so our votes have some real affect, but at a minimum, each vote should be counted.

One option not mentioned is to not vote for President BUT vote for the challengers of Republican and Tea Party radicals in Congress and in the State legislators. Without winning the Congress, which almost all seats are up for election, it really doesn’t matter as much who is elected President. Most of the issues with health care, SSI and military cuts are because of there NOT being a annual buget passed in years. There are also numerous appointments that have NOT even been considered by the Senate some for years. Not to mention no consideration or official interviews with the Supreme Court Nominee. Even if the rejected him after hearings they would at least given lip service to the Constitution.

If Bernie didn’t set up write in for the states that require it then, are only option for making change, which is clearly needed, is for people to back movements like “WolfPac”, which is a basically trying to get people to band together, and contact there state legislative reps, who are not all entirely corrupt by corporate money, to push legislation through each state that will essentially set up a Article five convention of the states, to attempt to solve this money in politics corruption with an amendment to the constitution. Currently there are 5 states that have already sign on, and passed legislation to go to the convention. We need 29 more.

This is important because with the congress being paid off excessively we can’t get the needed change done in congress to fix the problems, that the people have.

As far as what we can do now, I found a website that is attempting to identify people in various branches of office that are coming up for election this year, that are considered “Berniecrats”. If we can get the people in Congress that will pass legislation that Bernie Sanders is trying to push for we can still make change, despite who is in office as the president.

I am sickened by this pathetic website. You are not about issues because the Democrats have a platform that matches the issues of BS’s supporters, you are about winning. A vote for anyone other than Clinton is a vote for Trump. You would gladly put a racist, biggot in the White House who take the country back fifty years than act like mature voters! The blood of Trump is in your hands!

Gina .. if you think the Democratic platform matches that of Bernie supporters, then you’re not listening to what people really want. Sure, Bernie has pulled the platform to the left, but it’s still lacking in some significant areas. My main problem is that I don’t really believe that HRC would go along with those changes even if they aligned perfectly. Look at her track record, she says what she thinks people want to hear, then does what’s best for corporate America (and herself).

Personally, I can’t vote for Hillary because I don’t trust her and she doesn’t represent me. She’s a crook, a liar, and is probably one of the most corrupt politicians we’ve seen. That doesn’t mean I’m voting for Trump, but sometimes things have to get really bad before they change. Trump may be that “bad.” Yes, a Trump presidency would be a huge embarrassment for the country. But I don’t believe that any of the garbage ideas he’s proposed could ever become reality. I look at this as, who would I prefer to see as president .. an insane idiot or a lying, cheating, crook (who will get us into another war)?

The one hesitancy I have regarding Trump is that he’d be able to nominate at least one SCOTUS. That would have longer-term implications than just 4 years of painful idiocy. I still wrestle with that.

I’m still hoping that HRC will get thrown in prison where she belongs. She is just a trainwreck of scandal and corruption ..